Disk drives comprise a disk media and a head connected to a distal end of an actuator arm which is rotated about a pivot by a voice coil motor (VCM) to position the head radially over the disk. The disk comprises a plurality of radially spaced, concentric tracks for recording user data sectors and embedded servo sectors. The embedded servo sectors comprise head positioning information (e.g., a track address) which is read by the head and processed by a VCM servo controller to control the velocity of the actuator arm as it seeks from track to track.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk format 2 comprising a number of servo tracks 4 defined by concentric servo sectors 60-6N recorded around the circumference of each servo track, wherein data tracks are defined relative to the servo tracks 4. Each servo sector 6i comprises a preamble 8 for storing a periodic pattern, which allows proper gain adjustment and timing synchronization of the read signal, and a sync mark 10 for storing a special pattern used to synchronize to a servo data field 12. The servo data field 12 stores coarse head positioning information, such as a servo track address, used to position the head over a target data track during a seek operation. Each servo sector 6, further comprises groups of servo bursts 14 (e.g., A, B, C and D bursts), which comprise a number of consecutive transitions recorded at precise intervals and offsets with respect to a data track centerline. The groups of servo bursts 14 provide fine head position information used for centerline tracking while accessing a data track during write/read operations.
An air bearing forms between the head and the disk due to the disk media rotating at high speeds. Since the quality of the write/read signal depends on the fly height of the head, conventional heads (e.g., a magnetoresistive heads) may comprise an actuator for controlling the fly height. Any suitable fly height actuator may be employed, such as a heater which controls fly height through thermal expansion, or a piezoelectric (PZT) actuator. A dynamic fly height (DFH) servo controller may measure the fly height of the head and adjust the fly height actuator to maintain a target fly height during write/read operations.
In certain circumstances, lubricant on the disk media can build up on the head, causing high fly writes (HFW) due to increased head-media spacing (HMS). For example, if the head is parked on the ramp over an extended period of time (e.g., over one hour) then the lubricant may migrate from pooling areas back onto the air bearing system and the pole tip, which can result in a head-media spacing change that can cause HFW after initial loading of the heads back onto the media.